For the better part of 2025 as I focused on performing Freelance work, I needed to help resolve A/V system issues for local Bars and Restaurants. An issue many of them discuss with me is around Football and showing every game their customers ask for. One of my clients operates a popular local food joint, and regularly has people visiting from all over the Country and abroad. Customers might ask for <insert out of market football Team> to be put onto the TVs. Unless a game is on National Television (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN, ESPN2), they cannot handle the request. Increasingly common are the Streaming exclusive games which are only shown on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and ESPN+. The Streaming exclusive games are particularly problematic. My client is simply not set up with the right set of providers.
My local football team has a few “Streaming Exclusive” games which are not on any local Broadcast or RSN (Regional Sports Network) channel. The same goes for our local Hockey team, and they have been doing streaming exclusive games for much longer. Now, with the NFL experimenting with making games streaming exclusive, this problem is only going to get worse.
There tends to be one notable exception to the streaming exclusive and out of market headache, and that is DirecTV. DirecTV is well known for their Satellite TV service in the United States, and for being the longtime home of NFL Sunday Ticket. Sunday Ticket is also available on YouTube TV and is currently the new exclusive home of Sunday Ticket. Many “Streaming Exclusive” events such as Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football are broadcast on DirecTV through a dedicated channel available on Business service.
But there’s one “Gotcha” with Business TV Service, and that is with events like the Netflix exclusive UFC fights. These events are unavailable on any Cable provider. Streaming sports programs like this in a business is generally not possible due to Copyright. Mass Market consumer services like YouTube TV, ESPN+ and Netflix are not licensed for use in a business.
Some businesses are simply at a disadvantage
If you own a Sports Bar or Restaurant and your customers care a ton about Sports, you’re probably using DirecTV. In the past, they carried (virtually) every Sporting event a customer might ask for. Whether exclusive to Amazon Prime or ESPN+, or whether it is an out of market game on Sunday Ticket. Some businesses are however, unable or unwilling to get DirecTV Satellite service installed.
Some businesses are located deep in a high rise or suite, and don’t have permission to install a dish. The business might be located in an area without a clear view of the South and Western sky. Or they may be too far North or South to get a reliable signal from the Satellite. Businesses might be located in a very snowy climate, and have prior experience with DirecTV’s service going out from snow build-up. Some businesses may elect to go with their local Cable or Fiber TV provider simply because it comes bundled existing services, or is more reliable. Whatever the case may be, there is inflexibility at play when exclusivity occurs.
The cost of Copyright for Business
One reason the price of Business Cable TV cannot be provided up front is due to business function. It is also based on Fire Occupancy Rating. TV service for a Car Shop or Doctor’s Office has a different rate schedule than a Bar or Restaurant. For Bars, Restaurants, and similar establishments, you get Fire Occupancy Involved. Cost differs based on whether the business can hold 50 people or 500 people. That’s before you get to the point of figuring out what channels are going to be in the Cable package. Or how many Cable Boxes are to be installed, each of which has a rental fee. A Doctor’s office may pay $90/m for a single TV with a basic set of channels. A Sports Bar on the same exact package and setup will pay $150.
A Business TV package is sold with the needed rights to allow a business to adhere to Copyright. This means paying royalties to the networks and programmers that produce content. Businesses pay for the “Public Exhibition” of Television content – Including Over the Air Content that is otherwise free to receive via an Antenna. Copyright Law, at least in the US, carves out some exemptions where payment isn’t required. Regardless, even Antenna / Free TV needs copyright payments made. Businesses will sign up for Cable even if they are only ordering the “Local/broadcast” package to satisfy this requirement.
How about for Pay-Per-View events? Businesses also need to pay large fees based on their occupancy, such as for Pay-Per-View events like UFC Matches. This might be $350 or $900 for a single receiver, but that varies per event. In addition, there may be per-screen fees with Pay Per View. Some setups might require paying per receiver, and this can rapidly increase one-time costs in places without video distribution systems. That’s assuming these setups remain supported, as content owners seek to exert more control over how their content is presented.
Costs… and annoyances!
Extending the headaches, some TV solutions require very specific network setups, or they don’t work at all due to the licensing setup with the provider. One such solution I came across is EverPass, which would allow businesses to overcome copyright issues with streaming exclusive games. If ordered independently, Everpass seems to work with whatever network infrastructure is in place. EverPass can also be ordered through cable companies like Spectrum Business and Comcast Business.
In the case of Spectrum Business bundled EverPass, there are some limitations in place which do not make sense. This is based on my interaction with Spectrum Business Account Reps. One limitation for example requires a business to use a DOCSIS connection for streaming EverPass content. This is a major downgrade when a location is configured with Fiber Internet from any provider, including Spectrum Enterprise Fiber. This restriction also hamstrings locations may have backup Internet connections, as my clients often have in order to keep the business going when Spectrum has their (routine) multi-hour outages. EverPass provided through Spectrum, as I’m told, would not work through a Backup Internet service . It certainly won’t through Spectrum’s own backup Internet solution.
Another confusing bit is why some brands like DirecTV sell streaming solutions to Residential, but don’t offer a solution to business. To the best of my knowledge, DirecTV Stream doesn’t offer a Business streaming solution. This comes a few years after AT&T, the former owner of DirecTV, publicly stated that no new Satellite launches would occur for DirecTV. Now it seems DirecTV is discontinuing new Satellite service installs in favor of Streaming for new customers. I’m sure this will change sometime in the near future, as I’ve seen evidence that Spectrum is offering their Xumo platformed TV service to Businesses to phase out the use of cable boxes.
Am I just confused?
Or just being inaccurate? Probably. That’s the point of this post. It would help the TV industry immensely if all of this were spelled out in a clear manner, and sold under existing distribution channels. But without useless marketing pages and sales calls. Just spell it out. Fragmented streaming services with exclusivity without a viable alternative is just crap. With homes cutting Cable TV service (and possibly returning due to the streaming fragmentation mess), businesses effectively support the TV Industry. Why make it so complicated and inflexible? Why keep the distribution market constrained?
In my own experience with the modern TV industry, you’ll often find there is no perfect provider. In the past it was mostly around who had the better picture quality and price, and sometimes technology. That still remains true, and now it’s a mess of fragmentation in content and experience.